1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a transport device provided with a damper device, and a recording apparatus provided with the transport device.
2. Related Art
As one type of a recording apparatus which performs recording by attaching liquid (for example, ink) to a target (for example, paper), an ink jet type printer (hereinafter simply referred to as a “printer”) provided with a recording section which records a given image (including characters, graphics, or the like) by ejecting ink from a liquid ejection section (for example, a recording head) onto paper is known. The printer is made so as to record an image on the paper by feeding one by one the papers to the recording section side by extracting the topmost paper from a paper feed cassette (hereinafter simply referred to as a “cassette”) in which a plurality of papers are placed in a stacked state. For this reason, the printer is provided with a mounting section for mounting the cassette, in which a plurality of papers are placed in a stacked state, so as to be able to mount or remove the cassette by inserting or extracting the cassette along a direction perpendicular to the stacked direction of the paper, and a paper feed roller for extracting one by one the papers from the cassette which is in a state where it is mounted on the mounting section, thereby sequentially feeding the papers to the recording section side.
Further, in the printer, a guide surface having a rising slope for guiding the paper to the recording section while separating one by one the papers which are extracted and fed from the cassette side by the paper feed roller is formed at the deep inside of the mounting section on which the cassette is mounted, that is, at a site which faces the front end surface in an insertion direction of the cassette which is in a state where it is mounted on the mounting section. For this reason, in a case where the cassette is mounted on the mounting section by a user, when an insertion speed into the mounting section is fast or the like, there is a case where the papers in the stacked state move in the insertion direction from the inside of the cassette due to an inertial force thereof, thereby being laid on the guide surface having the rising slope. If so, since it is not possible to separate one by one the papers by the guide surface, so that a transport state called an overlap feed in which a plurality of papers are overlapped and fed occurs, there is concern that a phenomenon such as a paper jam may occur.
As means for avoiding the overlap feed, in JP-A-2005-8416, there is disclosed a mechanism which regulates the movement of an end portion (hereinafter referred to as a “paper leading end portion”) on the downstream side in a paper feed direction of the paper in the insertion direction of the cassette. That is, there is disclosed a paper feed structure provided with a mechanism (a loading stopper) which is movable between a position where it protrudes into and blocks a paper movement pathway (a medium pathway) and a position where it does not protrude into and block the movement pathway.
Incidentally, as a structure which avoids the overlap feed, there is proposed, for example, a structure which has a regulation surface which regulates the movement of the paper leading end portion to the front side in the insertion direction of the cassette and also is provided with a movement regulation body which performs rotational motion so as to fall in the insertion direction. That is, there is proposed a damper device which rotates the movement regulation body in the insertion direction with a predetermined temporal difference such that after the momentum (speed) of the moving paper is restrained by regulating the movement of the paper leading end portion at the time of insertion of the cassette at the regulation surface, the regulation surface retreats from the guide surface to automatically release the regulation of the movement of the paper. Since such a damper device requires only an increase in space for a mechanism necessary for the rotational motion of the movement regulation body, a reduction in the size of the printer becomes possible.
However, if the movement regulation body which performs rotational motion so as to fall in the insertion direction has the same configuration as the movement regulation body (the loading stopper) in the paper feed structure disclosed in JP-A-2005-8416, when an insertion speed into the mounting section is fast or the like, there is a case where the paper leading end portion further moves upward along the surface of the movement regulation body, thereby being laid on the guide surface (separation pad). If so, it is not possible to separate one by one the papers by the guide surface, so that there is concern that it may not become possible to avoid the transport state called the overlap feed in which a plurality of papers are overlapped and fed.